Alice
by hopelessromantic0707
Summary: The "love square" goes to see Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. Puck/Quinn and Finn/Rachel. Post Sectionals.


**A/N: Hi again. This is just a fluff piece about the "love square" going to see Tim Burton's **_**Alice in Wonderland**_**. I kind of have Alice on the brain right now and I needed to get some of it out. This is written from Puck's POV, so hopefully it's in character.**

**Title and lyrics belong to Avril Lavigne. Ryan Murphy owns **_**Glee**_**. **

**Enjoy and please review!**

He can't believe he's doing this. Someone moves forward in front of him, tripping over an inconspicuous crack in the sidewalk beneath his or her feet. He reaches out to steady the person (he has manners, sometimes) and wordlessly absorbs the fact that said person is sporting a curly red wig, blue eyeliner and a purple hat that's like six inches high. He'd been right- this was going to be a fucking freak show.

"Hey." He turns as Quinn's voice sounds behind him. "You the first one here?" He shrugs noncommittally; no way is he going to admit that he's on time for something as stupid as this when he's ten minutes late to rehearsal almost every day.

Quinn laughs. It's the first time he's heard her laugh in months and he enjoys the sound, even if it comes at his expense.

"This won't be that bad. Tim Burton's a genius," she offers, as though that's supposed to make everything better. In response, he jerks his thumb over his shoulder, gesturing to the Mad Hatter look-alike from a minute ago.

Quinn stares, open-mouthed, for a few seconds before she moves her hair to the side and looks down at her brand-new Alice tee shirt. It's an extra-large so it can fit comfortably across her baby bump which is the size of a beach ball now because her due date is in two weeks (he'll never say that to her, though, because she'll burst into tears for a good twenty minutes if he does).

She seems to be mesmerized by her shirt, as though she's debating whether or not to keep it on in light of the people in crazy costumes. He makes the decision easy, pulling his sweatshirt, the one with McKinley High Baseball emblazoned across the front, over his head and handing it to her.

Taking it hesitantly, Quinn twists the thick fabric in her hands instead of putting it on immediately.

"You going to put it on or what?" he questions. He'll never understand why girls take so long to make decisions; either you want to do something or you don't, lists of pros and cons and shit like that is totally unnecessary.

She hesitates before saying, "Rachel said dressing up was mandatory. It was like pulling teeth to get her to agree to the tee shirt. I tried to tell her that all the Alice costumes were totally not meant for anyone in my condition and she made me describe, in detail, the 'aspects of the garments that made them appear inappropriate'." Quinn puts air quotes around the last part, increasing the pitch of her voice so she's impersonating Rachel perfectly. "After an hour in the Hot Topic dressing room, she finally let me off the hook."

"Tell her you spilled something on it." Her face lights up at his suggestion and she smiles, happy to have a plausible excuse that will help her avoid Rachel's wrath.

She pulls the sweatshirt on and he watches her eyes widen at the sight of whatever is coming around the corner behind him.

He turns and finds Rachel walking towards them, dressed in what he can only assume is one of the costumes about which Quinn was just talking. There's no doubt in his mind why she refused to wear the thing as he takes in the ensemble. The dress is extremely low-cut (enough to make even Rachel's almost non-existent boobs look pretty fantastic) and the hem barely reaches her thigh.

Quinn whacks him in the arm (damn, she can read him like a book), and rolls her eyes before waving the other girl over.

"Where's everyone else?" Rachel glances at her watch and he knows she's getting ready to throw a fit. When things don't go according to "The Berry Schedule", there's always hell to pay.

"Finn!" Quinn says the name much louder than necessary, practically screams it. He knows she's trying to distract Rachel and keep her from berating them.

It works. Rachel's head swivels and a goofy grin comes across her face, the scowl completely gone. Girls are so predictable.

Finn's eyes bug out of his head as he catches sight of Rachel. As he collects himself he asks, as nonchalantly as possible, "New look?"

"Apparently, none of you remembered my announcement yesterday that costumes were mandatory. This is the premiere, dressing up is what people do." She says the last part hesitantly, like she's not actually sure that people do this.

"Berry, this is Lima." He can see his comment has deflated her enthusiasm so he adds, "You look fucking hot, though."

"I don't appreciate being objectified but, since that's your version of a compliment, thank you."

****

They've been waiting in this dumbass line for two hours. He and Quinn have been brainstorming baby names (well, she's been doing most of the work; he throws his two cents in periodically) because there's nothing better to do.

Her favorites are Brooklyn, Molly and Grace. He immediately vetoes Molly (no way is his kid going to share a name with that prissy redhead from _The Breakfast Club_). As he says this, the doors of the movie theater open and a cheer goes through the crowd.

He can see Finn waking Rachel out of the corner of his eye. She's been asleep, head leaning on his shoulder, for the last half hour (since she'd finished loading tons of candy and shit into her purse; according to her, the snack prices here bordered on highway robbery).

They all get their 3D glasses and take seats in the back of the theater. Waiting for the movie to start, he thinks about how weird it is that the four of them are out on a Thursday night (Friday morning, technically), _together_, like friends (which he guesses they are), on some sort of double date. They don't call it that, though; it's research for their latest number.

****

_Quinn had come into rehearsal last Thursday with a huge smile on her face and a stack of sheet music in her arms. _

"_I have the perfect song," she'd gushed, handing he, Rachel and Finn a photocopy. Mr. Schue had broken the club into quartets for the week (it had something to do with strengthening their vocals) and each of the groups had to perform a song._

"_This will be excellent practice for us," Rachel agreed, clapping her hands in delight. "There's minimal backing music, so it will really showcase our range."_

"_Should we run through it now?" The girls looked at he and Finn (they'd asked the question in unison) like they had three heads before glancing at each other and smiling._

_Rachel said Quinn could take the first half of the song because she'd come up with the idea. Finn walked over and took a seat at the drum set, tapping out the beginning rhythm._

_Tripping out_

_Spinning around _

_I'm underground_

_I fell down_

_Yeah, I fell down_

_I'm freaking out_

_Where am I now_

_Upside down_

_And I can't stop it now_

_No, it can't stop me now_

_Ooooh Oooh_

_I'll get by_

_I'll survive_

_They all joined in at the chorus._

_When the world's crashing down_

_When I fall and hit the ground_

_I will turn myself around_

_Don't you try to stop me _

_I won't cry_

_Finn ended with a final drumbeat as their voices gradually faded into the air. _

"_That was amazing," Rachel breathed. They must've sounded pretty awesome if they'd gone above her expectations. _

_As they packed up their duffel bags and backpacks, Quinn and Rachel were whispering, heads bent together. It was obvious that they were coming up with some sort of plan._

_Rachel spoke first. "We're going to Alice in Wonderland on Thursday night. Neither of you are getting out of it, either, so don't bother trying."_

****

After the movie ends, he hands Quinn a tissue (waterworks are par for the course with almost everything these days) and asks if she wants to go out for ice cream. She nods her head enthusiastically. He laughs.

They head down the aisle to tell Finn and Rachel the plan. The other two agree wholeheartedly (Finn never passes up an opportunity for food).

****

When they get to Baskin Robbins twenty minutes later, the four of them are talking over one another and Quinn is laughing so hard at whatever Rachel just said that she can barely breathe.

They may be stuck in some kind of love square (Kurt coined that phrase) but, right now, it feels right that they're all friends again.


End file.
